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Book Review: Fiend by Alma Katsu

cover art for Fiend by Alma Katsu

Fiend by Alma Katsu

G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2025

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0593714348

Available: Hardcover, Kindle edition, audiobook

Buy: Bookshop.org | Amazon.com 

 

Not being wealthy or influential myself (though I would be somewhat, if you pick up this book based on this review), it’s fun to read about wealthy, ruthless families getting their comeuppance. The only reason why I am not on a superyacht right now is because I have not made a pact with any supernatural force to acquire immense wealth beyond what I can spend in my lifetime, oppress the working class, and wreak havoc on the environment.

 

Fiend centers around the Berisha dynasty. The clan has existed for over a thousand years, and through arranged marriages and corrupt business practices, has kept the Albanian bloodline and family fortune flourishing. Zef is the cruel and unscrupulous head of household and your stereotypical super-powerful rich guy. Then there’s Olga, his beautiful, unassuming wife, a Melania Trump figure, who stays out of her husband’s politics but is complicit in what she does know. Dardan, the eldest, is weak and ineffectual, but has been primed to take over the family business. He is probably the most empathetic character in the family because he wants to break away from the hold the family has on him, but at the same time,  he won’t totally give up his money and privilege. Next there is Maris, the ambitious daughter who has all the horrible characteristics of her father, Zef, and seems to be the most logical replacement. But Maris can’t compete with Dardan since Dardan’s crowning achievement is being born with a Y chromosome, and she is expected to follow in the Berisha female tradition of keeping house and siring more Berisha babies. Finally, there is Nora, the unstable emo socialite who would rather party than have anything to do with the Berisha empire.

 

The novel goes back and forth (“Then” and “Now”) of memories the Berisha children have of growing up in a house seemingly possessed by a supernatural force, a fiend known as The Protector, which keeps the Berisha clan rich and powerful while their competitors are suspiciously afflicted with horrible diseases and accidents. 

 

Under strange and mysterious circumstances, Maris is finally given the chance to break away from her Jan Brady status and the “Dardan, Dardan, Dardan” shadow to take over the business, and, in effect, the whole Berisha legacy. Little does she know that there are responsibilities that she will inherit that are not in her official job description. 

 

Fiend is a deliciously fun book to devour after a day of business meetings, synergizing, estimating bandwidth and defining deliverables, doing deep dives but still picking low hanging fruit, and talking about circling back to things that you know will never be addressed. Alma Katsu is known for her historical fiction novels such as The Hunger (based on The Donner Party) and The Deep (based on the sinking of the Titanic). Fiend is instead inspired by the television series Succession, about Logan Roy, the patriarch of the powerful and dysfunctional Roy family and owner of a NYC based global media conglomerate and the power struggle by his four children to take over as his health declines. Katsu reimagines the characters and their background and throws in a splash of her signature supernatural, horror talents to create an entertaining novel that will make readers forget all the tech debt that their company has pushed aside until it’s all hands on deck when the whole system comes crashing down. I think I have been working too much because a book about corporate greed and demonic possession makes perfect sense. Recommended. 

 

Reviewed by Lucy Molloy

Posted on November 8, 2025 by , Reply

Book Review: The Demon by Victory Witherkeigh

 

 

The Demon by Victory Witherkeigh

BookBaby, 2024

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 979-8350951110

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition

Buy:  Amazon.com

 

The Demon  is a sequel to The Girl, a coming-of-age story grounded in Tagalog folklore and mythology, about a Filipina-American girl whose family has promised her body to a demon on her 18th birthday as part of fulfilling an ancestral pact, but will have to choose whether to fulfil it. I haven’t had the opportunity to read it, but I suspect The Demon makes much more sense if you’ve read The Girl. 

 

The Demon starts with the demon, Hukloban taking over the physical body of the girl, who is nameless in the book. It isn’t an easy transition, and not only is the demon now overwhelmed with the physical sensations of her mortal body, but she has lost her memories and most of her demonic powers. Since Hukloban cannot remember anything, it’s unclear why the girl was taken over, what bargain she made, or who she is. Second-in-command to Sitan, the Master of Death, when he asks her she cannot remember why she wanted to be part of the mortal world. Thousands of years old, the demon will have to find her way in the human world, while satisfying her demonic needs and fulfilling her end of the bargain, made with Filipino hero Lapu-Lapu, to keep his bloodline prosperous. As in her previous book, it is a story about making choices, self-determination, and being human. How does a death goddess manage the body, mind, and emotions of a teenage girl?

 

I found this compelling, but also confusing. Witherkeigh has written an ambitious story and is juggling a lot of balls: Hukloban’s story as a college student in the modern world, trying to reconstruct herself; her relationships with the girl’s family (there are a lot of them), where the girl’s relationships are entangled with her dulies to fulfill the bargain; the far past, when she initially met Sitan (I didn’t realize they were part of the Tagalog pantheon); the confusion of her love affairs and friendships; her frustration about the benefit Lapu-Lapu’s bloodline has taken from colonizers and dictators because of the bargain; the lack of choice available to women. There are some very adult themes and conversations about death, as well as BDSM, addiction, abortion, toxic relationships, and grooming.

 

While I found The Demon to be an interesting book, it wasn’t an immersive one, as I had to keep stopping to look things up, and I found the ending unsatisfying. It was unusual enough that it kept me reading, but other readers may find it’s too much work. Witherkeigh is talented, though, and I know we will see more from her.

 

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski

Posted on February 3, 2025 by , Reply

Book Review: Hail Santa! by John McNee

Cover art for Hail Santa! by John McNee

Hail Santa!, by John McNee

Blood Bound Books, 2024

ISBN: 9781940250601

Availabie: Paperback, Kindle edition

Buy:  Amazon.com

 

 

If you want a good holiday-themed horror story that isn’t just an excuse to have a serial killer running around (such as the films Silent Night, Deadly Night, or Black Christmas), then Hail Santa! is for you.   It’s bloody good fun (pun intended) that does a nice job combining some of the classic aspects of demon mythology with the story of Santa Claus, while managing to smash plenty of humans into pulp jelly throughout the story.  Horror fans and gorehounds alike will love this one.

 

St. Nicholas is a small, dying town in the northern Canadian woods that is given a new lease on life when a Chinese conglomerate buys up the whole town, with the plan of turning it into an upscale ski resort for the seriously wealthy skiers of the world.  However, the land was never really the town’s to sell: it’s the property of Saint Nicholas, due to a deal he (or it) made with the town’s founders centuries before, and, he isn’t happy with the idea of his town being turned into a playground for rich schussboomers.  The throttle opens up quickly on this story, as Saint Nicholas and his army of the town’s children slash and bite anything in their way, while a small and very eclectic group of adults try to stop them and save the town.

 

This isn’t just a paint-by-numbers splat-fest: there’s more under the hood when it comes to the plot.  It’s the use of demon myths that really makes the plot intriguing, such as the fact that their names wield genuine power, and that worship of them is truly important- it’s a matter of survival.  Saint Nicholas isn’t doing all this just because he’s angry: he has legitimate reasons for wreaking havoc on the town.  That all ties into what the survivors learn in their attempts to stop him, and it’s done well.  They get little clues along the way, but it takes some thinking for them to come up with a targeted plan to stop him.  It’s enough to keep the reader thinking along with the characters. You’ll have fun trying to imagine what would possibly work against the power Saint Nicholas wields.

 

The heroes in this are an extremely likable bunch.. There’s the Chinese lady responsible for the whole town project, a rookie teacher, an elderly janitor, and a couple of drunken contractors, among others.  It’s a good mix, as they have varied strengths and weaknesses, due to their backgrounds.  But, therein lies their power, as it gives them a variety of perspectives, which they need to survive, and everybody plays a vital part.  Readers will like and relate to at least some of them, and it does hurt when some of them get killed off… this isn’t an “all the good guys survive and prosper” story.  There’s also a great twist to the end of the story that takes it in a new direction: it’s much better than any standard stock ending.

 

Bottom line:  this is the perfect antidote for holiday cheer.  Recommended.

 

 

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson

 

 

Posted on April 22, 2024 by , Reply
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